Police Chief Jeff Urban said the assistance they received from the public Monday helped lead to the arrests of two men accused of committing home invasions Jan. 30 and 31.

Urban said Tuesday that he was somewhat surprised that Curtis M. Yeager, 19, and Cory R. Winkler, 25, were arrested so quickly after he revealed their identities to the media Monday afternoon.

Yeager, Winkler and Christopher L. Kirk, 19, who was arrested Friday, are to be arraigned at noon today in Municipal Court on aggravated burglary charges. During the crimes, armed burglars used duct tape to restrain their elderly victims.

Winkler, of 132 Ninth St. NE, Strasburg, was arrested at his home about 4 p.m. Monday by Strasburg police, who turned him over to New Philadelphia police.

New Philadelphia police later arrested Yeager, of 125 Ninth St. NE, New Philadelphia, at about 7:30 p.m. Monday, when he was found as a passenger in a car stopped for a traffic violation on state Route 39 near the Park-n-Ride off W. High Avenue.

“We did get information from the public as to where these guys might be,” Urban said, crediting The Times-Reporter and area radio stations with getting the word out quickly.

He said Monday’s arrests went very smoothly and no one was hurt “and they were taken into custody without issue.”

Kirk, of 8995 Strasburg-Bolivar Road NW, Strasburg, was arrested Friday after he pawned an item stolen from a Fourth Street NE residence (the first home to be burglarized) at the Swap Shop in Dover.

Urban said he can’t reveal how police were alerted to the transaction, but noted that other stolen items also have been recovered.

Victims of that burglary, a 70-year-old woman and her 40-year-old son, were confronted by two masked intruders — one of whom had a gun — in their Fourth Street NE home. The victims then were forced into their car and taken to a bank to make an ATM withdrawal.

When that failed, the two were taken back to the residence where they were tied up with duct tape. The robbers then stole the woman’s 2007 Ford Taurus, bank card, cellphones, a Kindle Fire, some electronics and CDs.

The victim of the second home invasion, an 87-year-old woman on Beech Lane NW, also was met by two intruders with their faces covered. A gun was pointed at her head, and she, too, was tied up with duct tape while her home was ransacked for about an hour.